Broken Happiness
by NinjaTeddy
Summary: It was amazing how much happiness two simple sentences could destroy. Not yaoi! Rated T for Ed's usual potty mouth.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, there is a bit of an explanation behind this story. I had written out most of the original story, but I decided I didn't like it very much. So, this was written, and I think I like it a lot better than before. I will try to update as much as possible, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

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Prolouge

It was going to be a great party, and Ed knew it. The Rockbells were hosting it, seeing as the Elric brothers normally stayed at their place when visiting Resembool. Just because he knew it was going to be great didn't mean he wasn't going to complain about the guest list, though.

Roy and his subordinates had been invited, as well as Gracia and Elicia Hughes, Paninya, Roze, Ling and his bodyguards, May Chang, Major Armstrong and his sister Olivier. Scheska, Denny Brosch and Maria Ross were also asked to attend, and, much to Ed's annoyance, so was Hohenheim.

"What is Colonel Bastard doing on the guest list, Winry?! And… oh, _hell_. Please tell me you didn't invite Ling… Winry, he'll eat you out of your house and home." Ed had grumbled as he read through the guest list the previous day. Winry had already invited two of the most aggravating people in the world to the small celebration party. The only person who could be more bothersome was… crap. She invited him! "WINRY!! What the heck did you invite Hohenheim for?!"

"Ed, you complain too much, and you're really loud. I can hear you from our bedroom. Besides, Dad isn't all that bad." Al's voice could barely be heard from the room above. Al, Ed's faithful little brother, his pat friend, his constant companion. Also the person this party was for.

_The Next Day_

Roy Mustang showed up at the door of the Rockbell's home feeling clueless. The party invitation had said only the date, time, and location of the party, and to bring a gift for Alphonse. He hesitantly knocked on the door, fully aware of the eyes of his military friends on his back (He, Hawkeye, Havoc, Breda, and Falman had decided to share a car). He was greeted by a broadly grinning Winry, a slightly annoyed yet pleased, Ed, and some random kid who looked absolutely overjoyed to see - wait. Who was that boy? He had the same golden eyes as Ed, the same grin, but his hair was darker, and shorter. Besides, Fullmetal was standing right there, so it wasn't him.

"Alphonse?" Roy barely whispered his name, but apparently the boy could read lips or something, because his grin widened and he practically tackled Roy with an ecstatic hug.

"You knew it was me!! You did! Brother thought you wouldn't but you did!" All of the military workers had no idea what was going on, but they were nothing if not curious, so they crowded around Mustang, looking over his shoulders and around him to see who the small hands crushing their commanding officer could possibly belong to.

"Alphonse?" Everyone questioned upon seeing the teenage boy, and after hearing his excited voice confirming their beliefs, everyone knew that Ed and Al had succeeded in restoring Al's body, and all of them gave their happy congratulations to the duo.

Next arrived Kain and his girlfriend, Scheska, followed shortly by Maria and Denny. Shortly after that were Alex and his sister, then Ling, Lanfan, and Fuu. May Chang came next that, running into Al's arms after she figured out who he was. Roze and Paninya came just before Elicia and Gracia Hughes, and finally, Von Hohenheim.

By the time the last few guests had arrived, most of the crowd had made camp in the living room and were chatting amongst themselves, or, in Alex's case, showing off their muscles and sparkling. All the guests stopped their conversations when Pinako pushed Ed rather forcefully towards the center of the room, demanding he told the guests why they had been gathered.

"Well, you guys, there's one reason we've invited you here, and that is to celebrate the return of Al's body. So come up here, Al, so we can give you a round of applause!" With this he pulled his younger brother up with him and listened to the applause, which was littered with cheers and tears of happiness. After the applause there was an awkward silence, with the occasional sniffle from Winry's general direction. Roy took this opportunity to point out something that he had noticed, as well as giving his own, more persona congratulations.

"I would like to say that I am incredibly proud of these boys, and that I know they have been through a lot of difficult things in order to get where they are today. Good job, you two. I would also like to ask the elder Elric a question. How does it feel to be an inch shorter than your younger brother?

It took a while to get Ed calmed down, and even longer for Roy, Breda, Havoc, Paninya, and Ling to stop snickering at the older Elric's outburst, which had been increased when Hohenheim, trying to help in the calming of his son, had told him that he, too, was short as a child. That had definately not helped.

"Who are you calling so incredibly short and childish that he could be mistaken for a toddler, you stinking giant!!? I'm not short, you guys are all just abnormally tall!!" Even Winry had given a little giggle at that, and Ed was still ranting about how nobody respected him anymore when there was a sharp knock at the door. Pinako had gone to answer it, wondering if there was someone who hadn't arrived at the party yet. She was surprised to see the man who normally delivered letters and messages around the village.

"I was told Roy Mustang could be found here? I have an urgent message for him from headquarters," he said over the yelling and laughter in the background. Pinako gave a loud call from the door, which had the colonel darting quickly to the sound of the older woman's voice. "Roy Mustang? This is for you." The man handed the short message to the alchemist, who read it over quickly, growling slightly as his face paled. This was the last thing anyone needed right now; everyone had finally found happiness, only for it to be destroyed by two sentences.

"What is it?" Pinako wanted to know. Roy read the aloud with an angry, yet shaky voice.

"Colonel Mustang: You and all soldiers under your command are being sent to war. You have one week to prepare."

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A/N: Wheee, I got to write a short rant! Sorry about the cliffhanger, I'll try to upload as soon as possible, provided writer's block doesn't strike like last time. See you then!


	2. Chapter 2

The rocking of the train, Roy thought, seemed to be calming everyone down. He didn't want to be on this train, same as everyone else, but sometimes there just wasn't a choice. One of those times being when the leader of your country ordered you into war. That was a simple choice, and yet so very difficult. You could go and be honored as a hero – If you made it back alive. Or you could desert the army, be hunted down for the rest of your life, and called a traitor. A simple choice. Not.

_He had dreaded telling the others. Putting it off, though, could be disastrous, so after most of the guests left Roy had gathered up his courage and informed his subordinates of the situation. _

"_I hate to tell you this. I really do, but I have to." There was a silence as the group waited for his next words. He took a steadying breath… "We're going to war." Ed, Breda, and Falman paled. Winry, Al, and Fuery gasped. Havoc swore under his breath. Hawkeye tried to look unfazed, but Roy saw the corners of her mouth turn down ever so slightly, saw her eyes widen with the news. A nearly suffocating silence descended upon the room, only to be broken by Ed's quiet words._

"_You're kidding, right? This is all some really, really bad joke that you came up with, right?" No one said anything to answer the boy's near desperate pleas, but Roy shook his head slowly, confirming everyone's worst fears._

That was, without doubt, one of the worst moments of the colonel's life. But he couldn't do anything about it, could he? No, he couldn't so he should stop feeling guilty. That wasn't possible, though. He would never forget the look of a young man, practically a child, really, who could very well be taking a train to his death right now.

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The one good thing about long train rides, in Riza Hawkeye's opinion, was that they often gave a person a chance to think. Now, whether the things being thought about were a good thing or not were entirely dependant on the circumstances. Thinking was, after all, not something anyone really wanted to do on their way to war.

It was the Furer, of course, who had decided to help the small, seaside nation that had been under attack. He had made his final declaration some time ago, and groups of soldiers were steadily being sent off to the war. It should have been no surprise when the order had finally reached the colonel. But war was always a surprise, she thought grimly as she sat next to Roy. Studying the face of Edward, who sat across from her, she realized that he must be terrified. Giving a brief glance to an apparently distracted Roy, she moved to sit next to the boy.

"Ed, are you alright?" She had been awfully quiet coming over, and her voice made the teen jump.

"I… I guess so. It's weird, realizing that the next time I'm in Risembool I might just be a dead body. I would hate that, though; it would make Winry cry. At least Al isn't coming; I couldn't bear it if anything happened to him…" He trailed off, apparently unwilling to say anything more.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Roy's voice came from the other side of the car, surprising both Ed and Riza. "If anyone can make it out of war alive, it's probably you, Fullmetal. Besides, your brother and your girlfriend would kill me if I let anything happen to their precious shrimp while they were stuck at home."

"H-hey! That's… Winry's not my girlfriend! And I'm not a shrimp!" Ed blushed as he glared at the older man, not sure what he should be more annoyed at.

"Well, who ever said that I was talking about Winry?"

"Who else would you be talking about?!"

I don't know, that girl at the grocery store seemed pretty fond of you."

"Would both of you stop it already?" Hawkeye stood up, ready to stop the fight that was brewing. "We can't have you destroy the train before we get there, can we?" She looked annoyed, but really she was glad that Roy had been able to distract Ed from his worrying.

"Yes ma'am," the two replied in unison. They knew how dangerous it could be to get on the lieutenant's bad side.

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**A/N: **Well, that turned out differently than I expected. Oh well. Anyways, I hope you liked it! Sorry I haven't published anything in a while, I've been kinda busy. I'll try to update more often in the future, though! So, until next time!


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